Journal of Preventive Medicine

Enforcement of Section 5 of COTPA in a District in South India: Hits and Misses

The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) was enacted in the year 2003 and came into force in the following year. Section 5 of COTPA prohibits advertisement of cigarette and other tobacco products. Despite being in force for more than 15 years COTPA has not been enforced to its fullest extent.

Objective

Objective of the study was to assess the current level of compliance to Section 5 of COTPA in Kolar.

Methodology

It was a cross sectional study conducted during the month of March 2020. An observation checklist developed by the “International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease” (IUTLD) was used for this study. A sample size of 423 Points of Sale (PoS) shops was calculated based on 95% confidence level, an expected compliance rate of 50% and a 5% margin of error using Open Epi software version 3.01 with a design effect of 1.1. Data analysis was done using SPSS Version22.

Results

Among the 423 PoS surveyed very few were found displaying advertisements in the form of boards (6 No’s, 1.4%), Posters (6 No’s, 1.4%), banners (2 No’s, 0.5%), or stickers (2 No’s, 0.5%). In fact, no shop was found to have displayed any dangle, LCD, product show case, illuminated boards, black lit or offering promotional gifts and inserts.

Conclusion

The study revealed a fair amount of compliance to Section 5 of COTPA in Kolar. In fact the very absence of any shop displaying dangles, LCDs, illuminated or black lit advertisement boards or offering promotional gifts and inserts were encouraging findings.

Author(s): Naresh Kumar SJ

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